by John Goode
“THEY’RE HERE,” I said to the room.
Ruber was the first to respond. “I felt the shift, and I can sense Caerus but not my father….” He kind of drifted off.
“Your friends?” my dad asked.
Nodding, I walked toward the front door. “This is almost over,” I said, opening it.
I saw the other me walking down the street with everyone, but all I could see was Hawk. The other me smiled, and I absorbed it back into me before I took off running toward Hawk.
In one sense I had already hugged him and told him how I felt, but in another, this was my first time seeing him since we split up, and I needed to hold him in the worst possible way.
Instead of questioning it, he just ran toward me and scooped me up in an embrace, twirling me around once. “Hey, you,” I said, looking down at him.
“Hey, yourself,” he said back, pulling me in for a rather passionate kiss.
Act Five: The Hero’s Journey
“If power corrupts, then no one should be more
corrupt than the Gods, which we know is not true.
So maybe it’s better to say that the desire for power
corrupts, and the obsession for absolute power corrupts
absolutely, but let’s not blame power, shall we?
Some people are more than capable of wielding power
and not being the least bit corrupt.”
Princeps Leo
Chapter Nine
FERRA WAS not at all happy in her current surroundings.
“What is this place again?” she asked Molly in a soft voice.
“A school; children attend to be taught. You don’t have an equivalent in the Articus?”
Ferra made a scornful laughing sound. “The boys are taken aside and taught to fight, hunt, and guard the encampment.”
“And the girls?”
“How to cook, clean, and make sure the boys are happy. I failed that lesson.”
Molly let out a small giggle.
“Does it always look like this?” Ferra asked, peering through plants and trees and spotting the occasional classroom door.
“I can’t imagine it does.”
The school, in fact, had never looked like it did currently. What had once been a normal, American high school had been transformed into a bog, nay a small swamp with blackened, shriveled trees whose tops had broken through the plaster of the ceiling and whose lower branches intertwined as far down halls as the two women could see. The water was inky black, and Ferra was sure she had felt more than one thing swim past her ankles as they slowly walked in.
“So it’s that belt?” Ferra asked, happy there was an abundance of moisture around at least.
Molly nodded. “The Gnome King’s belt is one of the most dangerous artifacts from Djupur Byrjun. It grants wishes.” Her voice had gone dark and somber.
Ferra paused and looked down at Molly. “It does what?”
“The Gnome King was infamous for kidnapping people who ventured under the earth and into his lands. He would take them, and they would never be seen again. There were rumors that gnomes ate people, but in fact he would transform the captives into gems, using the energy from their souls to fuel wishes. As long as there are gems on that belt, Oberon can wish for nearly anything.”
“I think I am going to be sick. So each of those gems was a person?”
Molly nodded. “Transformed into gems by dark magic.”
“So we assume this Glinda person gave it to him. How did she get it from the Gnome King?”
“The Gnome King attacked the island continent of Aus more than once, and each time he was fought back by Glinda and the forces of the island. I assume in one of these defeats, she took it from him for safekeeping.”
“And then gave it to a power-hungry maniac. Lovely.”
“Can you hear that?” Molly asked, pausing. Ferra strained her hearing but could detect nothing. She was about to say something when the sound came to her ears….
Lots of it.
A rising wave of black water spilled around the corner a few hundred feet away, and Ferra knew they were in trouble. More than a dozen female forms rode the wave, ready to attack. At first, Ferra thought them maidens of some sort, but as soon as they saw Ferra and Molly, their features turned horrific, and they each bared a mouthful of shark teeth and webbed fingers that ended in dagger-like claws.
“Selkies,” Molly said, looking at the wave. She turned back to Ferra. “Activate me.” Ferra paused. “Ferra, say the words, activate me. I can handle this.”
The barbarian looked at the pack of selkies and knew she would be near useless in this fight. Water and ice are related, but in the case of warm, flowing water, the ice was weaker. Unwillingly, she recited, “There are three flowers in a vase. The third flower is green.”
Red lenses slipped down over Molly’s eyes and she turned back toward the oncoming wave. The last thing Ferra could see of her were two blades snapping from her forearms as she plunged into the dark water.
Ferra made an ice barrier and sealed the hallway off.
She hated leaving Molly, but she needed to find Oberon.
With great reluctance she went off in another direction, searching the school for her prey.
I LOOKED around at Olim and Demain. “Okay, so what is the seed ceremony or whatever it is?”
Demain was quick to throw out, “You need to bond it with this world and then release its power.”
I did not like the hungry look in her eye. “So what prevents someone from just grabbing the tree once it’s planted?”
“We do,” Olim said firmly. “Once the tree is settled, it would take severing this world from the other realms to make the tree vulnerable again.”
“So that’s how my mother did it?” Hawk asked. The revulsion in his thoughts was like storm clouds on a perfect summer day.
Olim nodded. “Where do you want to plant it?”
“Um, here on Earth,” I answered, confused.
“Yes, but where on Earth? Wherever you plant it will become the center of the realms. Choose carefully.”
I looked back at my dad, and he just gave me a weak smile. “Wherever you think it will be safe.”
“What if I pick somewhere remote? Like Antarctica?”
“I wouldn’t suggest it,” Demain offered. “If you plant it somewhere remote, then that place will literally become the most important place in the world. All magic will flow from there, and even though people have no idea why, they will feel drawn to it. They’ll come from all over. Also, the people who will be seeking the tree are not going to care about whether it’s remote or not.”
“I know!” I snapped. “They are going to come and go ‘Hey, Kool-Aid’ over Wherever the tree is. I want that Wherever to be in the middle of Nowhere.”
“You don’t understand, Kane,” Olim said softly. “Wherever you plant this will be the most important place in the Nine Realms. A Nowhere to hide the tree in doesn’t exist. It cannot be hidden.”
The weight of this choice was getting heavier and heavier by the second.
“Trust your heart,” Hawk told me gently, taking my hand in his. “Where do you think it would be the safest?”
“Safe how?”
“I think he’s asking,” my dad said, moving closer, “where do you feel safe?”
“Here,” I answered instantly.
“Then plant it here,” Jewel said eagerly.
“But what about the danger?”
She laughed. “It can’t be worse than anything else around here. Besides, you’re running out of time. You need to do something now.”
The urgency in her voice worried me. She didn’t sound like the Jewel I remembered.
“Okay, so here, this town. Now what?”
Olim looked out across the street, but I could tell she was looking at much more. “If it is to be here, then it must be where the ley lines converge.”
Hawk interrupted her inspection. “I thought wherever he placed the tree woul
d be magical despite ley lines.”
“It will, but if you want the roots to take hold quickly, it would do better where natural magic flows.”
“The ley lines converge near the town park,” Ruber informed the sisters. “They move outward in a clockwise manner with the largest configuration forming outside of town.”
I looked over at him in surprise.
“I did a magical survey of the town last time. I was bored.”
“Then the town park,” Olim said with certainty. “Once we start, Oberon or Inmediares will strike.”
“I’m counting on it,” Hawk said with a grin.
“Then we move out,” she said, walking out of Jewel’s house.
“Should we go?” Jewel asked way too eagerly. She didn’t understand the danger, thought what we were doing was some kind of really elaborate cosplay.
“You should stay here.”
“But what if this king comes for us while you’re gone?” her dad asked, speaking for the first time since we arrived.
“Can’t you duplicate yourself again?” Hawk asked.
“Not if I am going to be planting this seed. I need to be all there.”
“I can stay here,” Ruber volunteered.
“What if we’re attacked?” Demain asked. “We will need your abilities to defend the tree.”
Dammit.
“Stay between Hawk and me,” I said to Jewel and her family. “If trouble starts—”
“We will be fine,” she said with a smile.
Bringing Jewel and her family was a bad idea. I knew that as well as I knew myself.
“THIS IS a bad idea,” Ferra muttered to herself as, hopping from tiny hillock to tiny hillock to avoid the sucking muck, she picked her way through the magically created bog.
It took every iota of her willpower not to turn back when the sounds of combat echoed down the hall. Logically she knew Molly could handle herself, but this had nothing to do with logic. This had to do with the heart.
She paused at the revelation. “Logos help me; I sound like the boys now!”
Ignoring her doubts, she focused on her environment and wondered what all this was about. Oberon must have planned the school to be an escape route. What purpose did transforming the school into a swamp serve? Panic? Distraction? More likely distraction.
If that were so, then what were they being distracted from?
She didn’t have time to finish the thought. Something wrapped around her arm and tried to pull her down in the water. Tried being the important word in that sentence. It was something like the arms of the giant squid Ferra had seen during warmer years when fishermen brought up strange creatures from the ocean depths. However, the very human eyes that glowed up from under the water at her belonged to no squid.
Dropping the temperature around her arm, Ferra pulled it back and was satisfied to hear the tentacle snap in half. The thing under the water was not as satisfied. The muffled roar made the water around her shake as the thing pulled back, bringing more of its limbs to the front, readying itself for an attack.
“This is a waste of time we don’t have to waste,” the barbarian said to herself; she’d had enough of Oberon’s games.
She thought of warning Molly of what she was about to do, but there was no way for the clockwork girl to avoid the effect, which wouldn’t harm her anyway. Instead she closed her eyes and dropped the temperature in the school to zero.
Literal zero.
The water froze instantly, causing the entire building to shudder in response to the violent temperature change. Cracks snaked up and across walls and ceilings as whatever moisture present froze and expanded. Ferra did not pause. As she forced the ice to expand farther, the plaster exploded around her. The structure of the school was destroyed.
The only thing keeping the roof up now was Ferra’s ice.
Nothing moved as she surveyed the area around her. The Frigan could sense heat better than most beetles in the realms. The world shifted into shades of blue as she looked around for her enemy.
She didn’t have to wait long. Silent to any ears other than Ferra’s hypersensitive ones, Oberon leapt out at her to attack.
“HERE IS the major intersection of the ley lines,” Olim said, coming to a halt in front of Randy.
I told you about Randy. I didn’t? Get out!
Okay, telling you now about Randy. Randy is the huge oak growing in the dead center in People’s Park. Let me answer a few questions before you ask. No, I don’t know why it’s called Randy, but I think it got off easy compared with some of the names that get used in Athens. No, I don’t know where it came from. Randy is way older than I am. Am I the least bit shocked to find a giant tree exactly where we need to plant the seed for another vastly important tree? Not anymore.
“This isn’t a normal tree,” Hawk informed me after carefully placing his left palm against the bark.
Have I told you that my eye muscles are getting strained because they have to roll so much? I’m saying it now.
Of course Randy wasn’t normal because nothing is normal anymore. I wasn’t a normal human boy, my mother wasn’t a frail hippie who had died in childbirth, and the tree in the middle of the park wasn’t normal. Big shock!
“What? Is it alive? Is it going to talk? Ask us three questions? Can we get it to fight for us like in LOTR? Can it take the seed from me?”
Hawk glanced over at me, concerned about my babbling. “No, it is just a tree, but it isn’t from Earth.”
I looked over at my dad. “Is this a gift from Mom or something?”
“Not that I am aware of,” he replied, sounding confused. He touched the bark as if it were going to tell him something as well.
“Then what’s it doing here?” I asked.
“What does it matter?” Jewel snapped. “Aren’t we running out of time or something?”
“Aggro much?”
She shook her head. “I’m just… I’m just scared, okay?”
Her mom patted her shoulder sympathetically.
Something was…. I cocked my head to one side and stared thoughtfully at Jewel and her mom. Something didn’t—
“Perhaps there is a message for you,” Olim said, derailing my train of thought.
“Or maybe it’s just a tree?” I asked back.
“What does it hurt to try?” Hawk asked me, feeling how nervous I was.
“Fine. Hey, magic tree, you have a message for…?”
I placed my hand on the bark and felt an instant connection with it as information flooded into my head like a computer download. The tree was an Arbrever—better known as a dream tree. Besides being a tree, it had the ability to absorb memories and thoughts and store them inside itself like a huge emotional sponge. At first all I could feel was the town and every person who had sat under it and laughed, smiled, napped. I could see years and years pass before my eyes and then came the second piece of information.
The tree was older than the town.
I know how that sounds, but the tree could remember when this was nothing but a clearing surrounded by miles and miles of grass. Like a movie on fast-forward, I saw the town assemble around the tree, oblivious to its extradimensional origin. Decades flew by, and I saw group after group of wild thinkers enter the town. At one point or another, they each ended up under this tree. As the connection deepened, I learned the tree was more than just an information source.
It was a beacon.
On some subliminal level it had been sending out waves of acceptance to those who never fit in. When the freaks and the weirdoes and the outcasts of the world closed their eyes and listened, the tree would tell them of a place where they would be welcomed and loved. And some of them came and made Athens what it is today.
But who would tell the tree to do that?
“I would,” explained a voice next to me.
I glanced over to see what the voice belonged to. A beautiful woman, who was in no way human, watched me silently. I mean, sure, she looked human; she had two arms
, two legs, and a head, but that was where the resemblance to mortals ended. Her hair was like a thing alive. It hovered around her head in a perfect halo, as if she had a personal slave holding a fan in front of her to give the proper effect. I won’t even try to explain the perfection of her face. Just suffice it to say she was perfect in every way.
Except her eyes. Her eyes were so sad.
She smiled, and all it did was accent the sadness even more. “I left it for you, Kane, because I knew you would need a place to flourish.”
My eyes stung with tears as I realized this was happening at the speed of thought. She wasn’t here. This was the tree, a message left behind for me in case I touched it. It was just one too many things for me to handle.
“So you lied to Dad too, huh?”
She paused.
“You told him I should come here because it was safe, and it was a convergence of ley lines, but the truth is, you already set this place up, right? You had centuries to make a plan. Then you knew you were going to have me, and in the end, that’s what I am, right? Just another part of your plan?”
I could tell the part of herself she left behind wasn’t complex enough to have a conversation like this with me. This was an echo, a hologram, and here I was throwing a fit at it. “You have a message for me. What is it?”
“You’re hurting. I want to help,” she said.
“Shut up,” I growled. “Just shut up and give me the message. Tell me what I’m supposed to do already.”
She hesitated for half a second and then placed her hand on my forehead… and I knew.
OBERON BARRELED at Ferra like a madman.
He had a blade in his hand, but it wasn’t the Soul Blade she had seen him fight with before. Oberon’s odd choice in weapons relieved her to no end. Her ice could handle a weapon, even a magical one, but a Soul Blade’s abilities were far, far beyond what an ice weapon would match. Oberon had made a tactical mistake, one she wouldn’t have thought the fairy king capable of making, since he valued his hide so highly.
“Am I not worthy of your true weapon?” she asked, parrying his thrusts.
